Our story
- The idea
Richard Price, the founder of Academia.edu, had the idea for the company when finishing his PhD at Oxford in philosophy.
As Richard was finishing his PhD, he decided he wanted to have a homepage where he could say “this is who I am; this is what I have been working on; here are my papers.” At the time, Oxford offered a few megabytes of space for personal websites, and you had to write your own HTML, and FTP files to the server yourself. Richard thought “there should be a one-click way of creating a homepage, and uploading papers. Having a homepage shouldn’t require technical ability.” Richard asked a few of his fellow graduate students, and they felt the same way.
There should be a one-click way of creating a homepage, and uploading papers.
Richard Price, Academia CEO - Growth
In the early days, what mattered most of all was growth: growth in users and papers uploaded. In the first few months, we were growing at a linear rate. Some days 37 users would join, the next day 42, the next day 38. We made it to 50,000 users a year later, and someone posted on Facebook “Congratulations; here’s to 500,000 users.” Richard remembers thinking “wow, that is a lot. At a linear rate, that is going to take 10x the amount of time it has taken so far.”
We started to figure out exponential growth, and we got to 500,000 users, and then quickly to 1 million users. Today 266 million users have joined Academia.edu, and around 140,000 people join Academia.edu each day (Figure 1).
Around 140,000 people join Academia.edu each day
Figure 1. Academia registered users 2008–2024 - Mission
Academia’s mission is to accelerate the world’s research. We believe that science is a transformative lever for technological progress.
Archimedes' principle, "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world," encapsulates this vision.
Archimedes, circa 287 BCThe scientific revolution has significantly driven GDP growth over the past two centuries, as depicted in Figure 2.
Science has been pivotal in reducing the cost of clean energy (Figure 3) and has drastically decreased the mortality rate for cardiovascular disease over the last 60 years (Figure 4). Moreover, the cost of sequencing a human genome has plummeted from $100 million in 2001 to $500 today (Figure 5).
Accelerating scientific progress means faster advancements in critical areas such as global poverty reduction, clean energy, disease cures, and the development of aligned superintelligence.
Figure 2: Global GDP growth in the last 2000 years
Figure 3. World-leveled cost of energy by technology 1984–2022
Figure 4. Age-standardized overall and age-specific premature heart disease mortality rates* among adults aged 25–64 years, 1968–2017
Figure 5: Cost of sequencing a full human genome 2001–2022If science accelerates, technological progress accelerates - Results
We have made significant strides in the academic community by providing a platform for researchers to share papers and collaborate globally. We support the open access movement by allowing instant distribution of research and enabling peer review alongside distribution. The platform has over 250 million users and hosts over 50 million academic papers across various disciplines.
Academics particularly love the speed at which their research gets read on the Academia.edu platform.
“If I publish in a journal, it takes 2 years to come out, and 17 people read it. If I upload to Academia, 100 people read the paper in the first week.”Hugh RichmondUniversity of California, Berkeley, English, Professor Emeritus
“It’s nice to know that one’s work is being recognized around the world. Mentions can also lead to contacts with other scholars.”Robert RosenstoneEmeritus Professor, BerkeleyTestimonials from academics who use the Academia.edu platform. - The future
We have built the foundation of Academia.edu, and have started to accelerate the world’s research.
We are still at day one. Most of the work to accelerate the world’s future lies in the future (Figure 6). I find that inspiring.
These are Academia’s milestones after 2026 (Figure 6):
2026: Have a portfolio of high impact open access academic journals.
2027: Have the world’s best paper recommendation system
2028: Academics are commenting and engaging daily on the latest results
2029: Host 100 million papers
Figure 6. Timeline of Academia’s past achievements and future aspirations - Our team
- Leadership
Academia’s leadership team includes founder and CEO Richard Price, CTO Nate Sullivan, and other key members such as Chief Product & Growth Officer Jason Kellerman, Chief People Officer Em Kintner, and Chief Publishing Officer Delia Mihaila.
The team brings diverse expertise in academic, technical, financial, and organizational development, driving the company’s strategic and operational success.
Academia's leadership - Team
Academia’s team members are mission-oriented, kind, and curious about the world. They come from varied professional backgrounds, including academia, technology, publishing, and engineering.
The Academia Team at a company offsite in San Francisco
- Our investors
Academia is fortunate to be backed by wonderful investors. Spark Capital is a venture capital firm investing in startups across the technology, media, and entertainment sectors. Tencent Holdings is a Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company known for its investments in internet services and products, entertainment, AI, and technology. Khosla Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on impactful technology investments, founded by Vinod Khosla. True Ventures is a venture capital firm supporting early-stage technology companies.
Academia’s investors
